My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 113 The Great Purge Begins! The Nightmare of the Donglin Party Has Come!

Xue Guoguan was also feeling very uncomfortable. Zhu Cilang had originally agreed that he would be gone for a maximum of ten days and would be back after ten days.

As a result, half a month had passed and there was still no sign of him. He was really worried that something might have happened to Zhu Cilang.

Li Banghua was also worried.

These two people now have to deal with the Donglin Party and handle their own affairs every day, which is really overwhelmed.

If Zhu Cilang doesn't come back, they won't be able to control him.

At this moment, Zhou Yanru suddenly asked:
"Master Xue, do you know how the Crown Prince's health is doing recently?"

Xue Guoguan came to his senses as soon as he heard this, and said with a smile on his face:
"Please rest assured, Lord Zhou. I just visited His Royal Highness the Crown Prince a few days ago. His Royal Highness is not seriously ill, but he is just recovering slowly."

"The imperial physician also said that he will be better in a few days."

When Zhou Yanru heard this, he looked at Xue Guoguan with some suspicion, and it was obvious that he did not believe what Xue Guoguan said.

But after all, the other party's identity was there, so Zhou Yanru couldn't continue asking questions and could only helplessly continue to busy himself with official business.

Poor Zhou Yanru didn't know that his hometown in Jiangnan had been raided by the prince.
On the other side, at noon the next day, Zhu Cilang finally saw the team that had been sent to Shanxi to confiscate properties, and the endless boxes full of gold, silver and treasures behind them.

The teams of both sides were reorganized again. The eight imperial merchants who were brought from Xuanfu by Zhu Cilang finally met their families far away in their hometown in Shanxi, as well as the gold, silver and treasures confiscated from their hometown!
What they saw were only what the Jinyiwei took away. The food, land, shops, etc. that could not be taken away were handed over to the Jinyiwei who stayed behind to deal with.

After all these things are sold, another sum of money will come in.

For a moment, those whose homes were confiscated at the back of the team cried heart-wrenchingly, but no one paid any attention to them.

Towards evening, the large army finally arrived in the capital.

Unlike the secretive way he left the capital, this time Zhu Cilang had no intention of hiding anything and directly ordered his troops to enter the city.

In everyone's opinion, all this should still be Chongzhen's idea.

The reason why Chongzhen did this was to expose those merchants and officials who had secret dealings with the Jiannu, and it had nothing to do with him, Zhu Cilang.

He, Zhu Cilang, is still the good prince of the Ming Dynasty!
So, when the team entered the city, it instantly caused a sensation among everyone!
Not only the civil and military officials were shocked, but the common people were as well.

They were especially shocked when they saw the endless stream of carriages carrying gold, silver and treasures behind the team.

Zhou House.

The housekeeper hurried to Zhou Yanru's study, barged in without knocking, and said in a panic:

"Master, it's bad, it's bad!"

Seeing the housekeeper so anxious, Zhou Yanru frowned and asked unhappily:
"What are you in such a hurry for? What happened?"

The butler said in panic:

"Master, I just saw His Majesty coming back with the Crown Prince."

When Zhou Yanru heard this, he felt a little confused.

"What are you back for? Where are you back from? Aren't His Majesty and the Crown Prince always in the palace?"

"no no!"

The butler quickly shook his head.

"Your Majesty and the Crown Prince returned from outside the city. I heard from those people that they seemed to be returning from Xuanfu."

"They also brought back a lot of gold, silver, and treasures. Some say the emperor raided the homes of Shanxi merchants and seized a total of 100 million taels of silver!"

"In addition, a large number of officials were brought back, saying that these people were secretly communicating with the Jiannu!"

When Zhou Yanru heard this, his pupils dilated instantly.

He had no idea what was going on?

Isn’t the emperor always in the palace?
Why did he inexplicably go to Xuanfu and raid the hometown of a Shanxi merchant, seizing 100 million taels of silver?

What the hell is going on?

Thinking of this, Zhou Yanru hurriedly put on his shoes and rushed out. As expected, before he reached the door, he heard bursts of noise.

When he rushed to the door, he saw that the large army had passed by his house, and he only saw boxes of gold, silver and jewelry transported by horse-drawn carriages.

There were two to three hundred carriages in the team transporting gold, silver and jewelry alone, which undoubtedly proved that the butler's words were not false.

Then, a number of prison vans appeared at the back. The people imprisoned in the vans were all the civil and military officials of Xuanfu. The leader was actually Xuanfu Governor Guo Zhicong!

However, at this moment, Guo Zhicong had already become disheveled, curled up in the prison van with dull eyes, and no one knew what he was thinking.

At this moment, Zhou Yanru felt as if the mountains were collapsing and the earth was splitting apart, and he couldn't even stand steadily. If the housekeeper hadn't supported him from behind, he would have fallen to the ground.

At the same time, he finally reacted!

It turns out he had been deceived all along!
No.
Everyone was deceived by Chongzhen.

Chongzhen had originally planned to take the prince to Xuanfu to investigate the Shanxi merchants' collusion with foreign enemies, but in order not to attract everyone's attention, he took his men out of the capital secretly.

Until now, he doesn't have to pretend because he has solved all the problems.

OMG!

What exactly is going on?

Why did Chongzhen become like this?

Is this really the same Chongzhen from before?
Zhou Yanru stood there with a painful look on his face, his eyes full of fear.

Because he knew about the secret communication with the Jiannu, the civil and military officials in the court were more or less aware of it. After all, they took a lot of money from Xuanfu.

What awaits them next will undoubtedly be a major purge.

Even he would be implicated, because although he was not directly involved, he also received a lot of money.

This time, the sky is really about to fall!

That night, martial law was imposed throughout the capital.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, the East Factory, and the West Factory also started to get busy, torturing the captured officials and businessmen in turns, forcing them to reveal their backers in the capital.

All kinds of severe torture were used, of course this was just superficial work, because Zhu Cilang already had the real list of people.

That night, all the officials in the capital dared not close their eyes to sleep.

The next morning, when the bell for court rang, the civil and military officials finally saw the prince, whom they had not seen for half a month.

What happened yesterday evening had already spread like wildfire in the capital, and almost everyone knew about it.

Therefore, after everyone had exchanged greetings, Zhou Yanru could no longer hold back and was the first to ask:
"Your Highness, may I ask what exactly happened? Why did Your Majesty suddenly go to Xuanfu? And why did you suddenly send people to Shanxi to confiscate the property? Your Highness, please give me an explanation."

As soon as Zhou Yanru said this, many ministers present hurriedly stood up and demanded an explanation.

They knew very well that Chongzhen was trying to stir up trouble, so they decided to strike first.

However, Zhu Cilang did not indulge them this time.

Since we are already planning to break up, why should we indulge them?
He said directly:

"A few months ago, the Imperial Guard reported to Your Majesty that Shanxi merchants had been secretly colluding with the Jiannu, continuously sending them various strategic materials such as grain, tea, pig iron, cotton, and salt."

"What's more, they even provided them with Ming Dynasty's defense maps and military intelligence."

"When the Emperor learned of this, he was furious and immediately dispatched the Imperial Guard to Shanxi to investigate."

"After discovering that this was true, they confiscated the property of the Shanxi merchant. During the interrogation, they discovered that the case involved a number of civil and military officials in Xuanfu."

"In order to prevent civil unrest in Xuanfu, my father decided to personally lead the army, bringing this prince with him to Xuanfu to completely resolve this scourge and capture all those merchants and civil and military officials in one fell swoop."

"Everyone should know what happened next."

"The total amount of silver seized from this raid is 100 million taels of silver, plus over 6 million taels of gold, as well as countless rare treasures, grain, and other supplies."

Upon hearing this, all the civil and military officials in the court were shocked.

They thought the numbers they heard yesterday were exaggerated, but they didn't expect it to be true.

Zhou Yanru wanted to do something else, but at this moment, Zhu Cilang suddenly looked at him.

Zhu Cilang asked:
"Lord Zhou, don't you have anything you want to say to my father or me?"

Zhou Yanru thought to himself that something was wrong, but on the surface he pretended to know nothing and replied:

"Your Highness, I don't know what you mean by this."

Zhu Cilang sneered and continued:

"According to their confessions, there are many people in the court who have been acting as their umbrellas. Over the years, they have been protecting them and secretly transporting various supplies and food to the Jiannu."

"Among them is you, Lord Zhou Yanru."

When Zhou Yanru heard this, he felt like the sky was falling.

He did receive a sum of money from Xuanfu every year, but to be honest, he never asked where the money came from.

Unexpectedly, this silver was actually smuggled as a bribe to the Jiannu.

In an instant, Zhou Yanru fell to the ground.

But Zhu Cilang ignored him completely and waved to Fang Zhenghua who was standing beside him.

Fang Zhenghua understood instantly, then took out an imperial edict and began to read it.

"By the Will of Heaven, the Emperor proclaims: After investigation by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the following individuals have been found to have engaged in illicit relations with the Qing army: Zhou Yanru, Fan Fucui, Feng Quan, Zou Yuanbiao, Qian Qianyi, and Li Jiantai."

Every time Fang Zhenghua read out a name, an official would either collapse to the ground or kowtow repeatedly, shouting that he was wronged.

Among these people, some were indeed involved, and some were indeed wronged.

But for Zhu Cilang, none of this matters.

The important thing is that all of these people are useless. They can't help the Ming Dynasty at all and will only bring disaster to the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Zhu Cilang did not want to kill all the Donglin Party, Chu Party, and Zhejiang Party.

He didn't touch any of those who could get practical work done.

For example, Jiang Dejing, a cabinet minister of the Donglin Party, Zhang Zhifa, a cabinet minister of the Qi Party, and Ni Yuanlu, the Minister of Revenue.

They were all capable people, so Zhu Cilang did not liquidate them.

Soon, all the civil and military officials in the court knelt on the ground.

A rough count revealed that there were more than thirty of them.

Among them were two cabinet ministers, a minister, three assistant ministers, and other high-ranking officials. Zhu Cilang said coldly:

"In recent years, you have been acting as a protective umbrella for Shanxi merchants, secretly assisting them in transporting various supplies to the Jiannu."

"You are collaborating with the enemy and betraying your country! The Emperor has already decided that all of you will be exterminated and your families will be exterminated. Taken away!"

After saying this, without waiting for anyone to react, the Jinyiwei rushed up and dragged all of them away.

"Your Highness, I am wronged! I truly know nothing!"

"Your Highness, please spare my life for the sake of my past dedication!"

"Your Highness, I want to see the Emperor! I want to see the Emperor!"

For a moment, the only sounds in the hall were the crying and shouting of those people.

The other civil and military officials present were suddenly frightened and fell silent.

They never imagined that such a big incident would happen just after a few days of peace.

Moreover, this incident involves treason.

Anyone who dares to plead for those people will definitely be identified as an accomplice, and then it will not just be them who will die, but the entire family.

After the court session, all the officials felt dazed and their steps were unsteady.

Because the number of people involved in this incident is really too large, plus the emperor wants to kill all nine of their clans, all in all, there are at least 5,000 people.
You should know that throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, there was only such a large-scale killing during the reign of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

No one would have expected that two hundred years later, the Ming Dynasty would face such a massacre again.

And there's nothing they can do about it.

As mentioned before, this incident involves treason and betrayal, and the emperor wants to execute all nine generations of the family. This is justified, and they can't persuade him at all.

But they also knew in their hearts that some people could not be involved in this incident at all, and this was entirely the emperor's attempt to implicate others.

The purpose is to completely resolve the factional disputes within the court!
From today on, the factional strife that has prevailed in the Ming Dynasty for over a hundred years is probably coming to an end.
If anyone dares to try to start a faction again in the future, what awaits them will be the emperor's most ruthless revenge!
For a moment, everyone felt panicky, even the remaining two cabinet ministers.

Although they were not involved in this incident, no one can guarantee that it won't happen next time.
Of course, Zhu Cilang doesn’t have time to care what these guys are thinking now.

After leaving court, he hurried to the East Palace.

Because he came back too late yesterday, Bi Maokang had gone back to rest, and Zhu Cilang did not disturb him, but now, he can finally go find Bi Maokang.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the hall, he saw Bi Maokang fiddling with an assembled flintlock rifle!

"Did you finally succeed?"

Zhu Cilang shouted excitedly.

Seeing that it was Zhu Cilang, Bi Maokang hurriedly greeted him warmly:

"Your Highness, you are finally back!"

Zhu Cilang waved his hand, signaling him not to be polite, then walked over quickly, staring at the flintlock rifle in Bi Maokang's hand and asked:
"Is this a flintlock?"

"That's right!"

Bi Maokang nodded and said proudly.

"During the time that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was away, the flintlock rifle has been successfully developed!"

"I have debugged it several times and corrected some minor flaws. Now this gun is perfect!"

"Considering that the most feared thing about firearms is explosion, I made ten more and tested them on ten soldiers. None of them exploded."

"So I think as long as it is used correctly and maintained properly, the chance of explosion should be minimized."

"The flintlock rifle may still have some problems, but compared to the previous firearms, it is a world of difference."

Zhu Cilang nodded when he heard this.

Because he knew that bursting of the barrel was absolutely unavoidable. Even firearms made hundreds of years later would occasionally burst.

In this day and age, being able to make a flintlock rifle is already an invention that transcends the times.

Afterwards, Zhu Cilang excitedly took the flintlock rifle and began to study it.

Bi Maokang's flintlock rifle already had the prototype of later flintlock rifles, and the shape of the entire gun was very beautiful.

Zhu Cilang observed it carefully, then took it outside and wanted to test shoot it a few times himself.

However, Bi Maokang and Li Hu were afraid that the barrel would explode and injure him, so they finally decided that Li Hu would test fire it himself while he just watched from the side.

Zhu Cilang had no choice but to agree.

Soon, several people arrived at the shooting range. After test firing a few shots, Li Hu was completely shocked by the flintlock rifle.

Because this thing is much more advanced than the musket he used before.

In terms of both firing rate and accuracy, it far surpasses previous muskets.

When Zhu Cilang saw this scene, he breathed a sigh of relief and his eyes were full of excitement!

He was not only happy about the successful development of the flintlock rifle, but he was even happier because when Bi Maokang successfully developed the flintlock rifle, the option of the flintlock rifle also appeared in his system mall.

But he was not sure whether this flintlock rifle was the final development result, so he did not buy it.

After all, you buy ten of these things at a time, and the price is ridiculously expensive.

It would cost Bi Maokang about three taels of silver to develop a flintlock rifle, but if he bought it from the system, it would cost almost ten taels of silver!

The price is four or five times more expensive.

After weighing the pros and cons, he certainly couldn't buy it from the system.

But the system also has an advantage, which is convenience.

He could exchange it for a flintlock rifle anytime and anywhere he wanted.

This is undoubtedly good news for him.

Zhu Cilang was so excited that he directly rewarded Bi Maokang with 100,000 taels of silver. This 100,000 taels of silver was a personal reward for him, and he could do whatever he wanted with it.

Bi Maokang received the reward and quickly expressed his gratitude.

Being in the capital, Bi Maokang of course heard about what happened yesterday, but this matter had nothing to do with him.

Moreover, when he came, he made it clear that he would not participate in the struggle in the court, so this matter naturally would not affect him.

Now, he just wants to continue developing more practical firearms for the Ming Dynasty, nothing more.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Cilang and Bi Maokang worked out the mass production plan. Considering the lack of craftsmen, they decided to produce 10,000 flintlock rifles in the first batch.

Once enough craftsmen are recruited, mass production can begin.

Of course, this level of technology must be kept strictly confidential, so this is left to the Jinyiwei.

After saying goodbye to Bi Maokang, Zhu Cilang went to see Bi Wenxuan again.

After half a month of research, Bi Wenxuan not only improved the grade of glass a lot, but also developed a variety of things such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, perfume, etc.

As for hot air balloons, they are still in the research stage because some materials are difficult to obtain.

After all, this thing requires too many materials.

Zhu Cilang didn't care much about it. In his opinion, it was already amazing to be able to produce those things first.

With these things, the Ming Royal Chamber of Commerce can start operating.

As for the hot air balloon, that is what Bi Wenxuan needs to develop next.

Zhu Cilang believed that he could definitely handle it.

Then, Zhu Cilang went to visit Tang Ruowang, Song Yingxing and others. Generally speaking, everything was developing in a good direction.
At the same time, in the capital.

A new round of house searches has begun.

The Jinyiwei took the list and searched every house, and then arrested all nine generations of these people and put them in the imperial prison.

Moreover, these people don't even need to be tried. They can just be locked up and wait for beheading.

After all, the crime this time was secret communication with the Qing army, so there was nothing much to investigate.

In this way, the Imperial Prison, Factory Prison, Dali Temple Prison, and Wucheng Bingmasi Prison were all overcrowded, with the number of people approaching 5,000.

Zhu Cilang did not let go of any of those who liked factional struggles and made the court a mess!
Of course, the consequence of this was that that night, Zhu Cilang's desk was piled with resignation letters from officials.

These included resignation letters from two cabinet ministers, two ministers of the Ministry of Revenue, four vice ministers, and other officials of all ranks, totaling more than 60 officials.

If it were any other official, Zhu Cilang might have simply approved it directly.

After all, he was not afraid of not having officials to use these days. You know, there were hundreds of scholars waiting to be assigned jobs every year in the Ming Dynasty, and these people could be used directly.

But this time it’s different, because the officials who resigned are of too high a rank!
The two cabinet ministers and the two finance ministers are all talented and knowledgeable people, and they are indeed working hard for the Ming Dynasty.

If they really resigned, it would be difficult to find a suitable person for a while.

After a brief silence, Zhu Cilang looked at Fang Zhenghua and said:

"Are the things I asked you to prepare ready?"

Fang Zhenghua replied respectfully:
"Your Highness, everything is ready."

Previously, Zhu Cilang asked Fang Zhenghua to secretly collect the secrets of the civil and military officials in the capital. Among them, both big and small officials had some unknown stains.

No matter how upright a person appears to be, there are always some dirty things going on in his family that are unknown to others.

And now, all these handles are in Fang Zhenghua's hands.

Zhu Cilang nodded.

"Send the Imperial Guards to deliver these things to the officials who are resigning, along with their resignation letters, overnight."

"Also, tell them what I said: either they continue to work hard for the Ming Dynasty, or they will be sent to the Jinyiwei prison."

"There is no third option!"

"If they choose the first option, then burn their evidence in front of them and tell them that I will forgive them for everything that happened before!"

"If they still refuse to change and insist on seeking death, then send them to the Imperial Prison or the Factory Prison!"

When Fang Zhenghua heard this, he immediately understood what Zhu Cilang meant and quickly bowed and said:
"I understand. I'll go right away."

After saying that, he quickly retreated.

(End of this chapter)